Selective address-plate.



U. 6. LEE.

SELECTIVE ADDRESS PLATE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.6, 1912. RENEWED NOV. 1. 1914.

I T4,; 139 5%% Patented May 18, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

n ES ILDHMM Patented May 18, 1915.

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T0 CLUTCH MAGNET gTATFlS) 'ULYSSES G. LEE, OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR TO MONTAGUE MAILING: MACHINERY (30., A CORPORATION OF TENNESSEE.

SELECTIVE ADDRESS-PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1915,

original application filed. June 28, 1912, Seria1 1\To. 706,521. Divided and this application filed November 6, 1912, Serial No. ?29,S60. Renewed November 7, 1914. Serial No. 870,938.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, ULYSSES G. LEE, citizen of the United States, residing at Chattanooga, Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Selective Address-Plates, (division of application Serial No. 706,521,) of which the following is a specification.

This specification is a division of that accompanying application for Letters Patent of the United States filed by me June 28, 1912, numbered 706,521, and it concerns particularly the address plate disclosed in said application. This address plate is of a selective character, it being capable of adjustment to go into any one of a number of difierent classes of plates, and is intended to cooperate with selector mechanism, by which certain operations are initiated such, for instance, as controlling the impression head so that impressions may be made from certain of the plates as they pass through the machine, and impressions will be omitted in respect to other plates during their passage through the machine. For instance: a merchant may have his customers classed according to the amount that they purchase weekly, one class purchasing under ten dollars weekly, another purchasing in amounts between ten dollars and twenty dollars, and so on. The address plates of all his customers are filed or arranged in order alphabetically, and supposing he desired to send out matter as, for instance, circulars, to the customers of any one or more classes, say the class purchasing in amounts between fifty dollars and sixty dollars weekly, and

the class purchasing between sixty dollars and seventy dollars weekly, he may, by the use otmy selective address plates, cause the addressing machine to address communications to customers belonging to these two classes by running all of his address plates through the addressing machine, the selector mechanism selecting the address plates belonging to these two classes, and causing impressions to be made therefrom, while all the other plates are skipped.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved address plate; Fig. 1 is a cross sectional View; Fig. 2 is a sectional view or a part of the selector mechanism, and Fig. 3 is a front View looking from the left of Fig. 2 of the carrier arm for the selector fingers and the mounting for said arm.

The address plates A are formed, as shown in Fig. l, with notches cut in the rolled edge along one side. In this rolled edge a tab strip preferably of thin steel, shown at i, is inserted, the rolled edge providing a guideway in which the tab may be slipped. This tab is intended to obstruct or close one or more of the notches, the notches to be closed by this strip being selected according to the class to which the customer belongs whose address is on that particular plate. For instance: if the notch #1 is closed by the tab strip, the customer whose address this plate bears is included in class 1 of the list of plates.

As shown in Fig. 2, the address plates rest upon the portion 5 of the table of the addressing machine, being guided by their depressed rolled edges moving along the guideway in the-table, said guideway consisting, in the present instance, of the grooves 6 and 7. The plates are moved along the guideway by studs, one of which is shown at 7* on a feed chain indicated in cross section at 7 in Fig. 2. Then the plate is moved to the printing position, it lies under an impression block or pad i l, and the article to be addressed, such as a magazine, having been fed into position over the plate and over an inking ribbon passing over the plate, the depression of the impression block will make the impression of the address from the address plate through the ribbon onto the magazine.

As one instance of the use of this selective address plate, I have shown detector mechanism for controlling the impressions comprising a rocker arm 8 carrying at its upper ends a series of feelers a, b, e, (Z, c, f and 9. These are pivotally mounted on a rod 9, and they are so spaced that each feeler is opposite the center of its proper notch in the address plate when the latter is in po sition to receive the impression; that is, the feeler a will be opposite the first notch; the feeler b opposite the second notch, and so on throughout the series. Each of these feelers may be adjusted to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, or to that shown in dotted lines, being held by spring detents 10, and each feeler has a finger piece 11 for adjustment of the feeler to its different sitions. If the feelers are in the position shown in full lines, they will strike the edge of the tab strip when the rocker arm 8 is swung-to the right, Fig. 2, whereas when they are adjusted to the dotted line position, they will perform an idle movement when the rocker 8 is swun toward the right. The rocker 8 is pivotal y mounted on a shaft 12, supported in bracket arms 13. It is connected with an arm 15 also pivotally mounted on the shaft, and having a frictional engagement at 16 with the rocker arm 8, and this may consist of a spring between the hubs of the arms 8 and 15 Arm 15 is oscillated by a mt 17 from an eccentric 18. Electrical contacts 19 and 20 are carried by the rocker arm 15, and these are closed by the contact 20 striking a stop held by a jam nut 31 to the arm 8, when the arm 15 is raised and the arm 8 is arrested by its feeler finger or fingers striking the tab strip of the address plates. When the arm 15 is lowered and the arm 8 swings leftward, it strikes a stop 33 held by a nut 34 to the'bracket 32, and contact is therefore broken between 19, 20, because the arms 8 and 15 will now assume their normal positions relative to each other, the friction connection at the shaft 12 permitting this to be done. From the contacts 19 and 20 circuit connections lead off to an electromagnet which controls any desired mechanism, such as the mechanism for operating the impression head.

The operation of the invention is as follows: The metal strip or tab 4, which slides with some frictional contact along the inside of the slotted rolled edge of the address plate, determines, as above indicated, the class or classes to which the customer belongs whose address appears on the plate, and in thus determining the class the tab strip, or, as it may be called, the selecting strip, fills or obstructs one or more of the notches in the plate. Suppose, for example, the merchants list of address plates contains five thousand addresses filed alphabetically without regard to classification as to purchasing power or other considerations, and it is desired to mail matter to the first, third and fifth classes, the operator sets the feelers a, c, and e, representing respectively the first,

third and fifth classes in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2. The other feelers b, d, f and g are depressed to the position shown in dotted lines, where they are out of line or below the horizontal plane in which the notched edge of the address plate lies. The feelers are held in their respective positions by the spring detents. Supposing that the plates are being fed along the guide- I way of the machine and that the first late to reach the printing point is one o the erman class, which means that this plate will have its fourth notch, counting from' feeler 03, corresponding to this class, is de- 7 pressed to the position shown in dotted lines, the said feeler on a movement of the rocker arm 8 to the right will simply perform an idle movement and the said arm will move to its full limit, and as the electric contacts are normally disengaged, their relation will not be altered, and consequently the clutch magnets will not be energized and no impression will result. Supposing the next plate to reach the printing point is one of the fifth class, having its notch No. 5, counting from the left of Fig.1, obstructed by the tab or selecting strip 4 when the rocker arm 8 now makes its forward motion toward the right, the feeler e, which as above described'is in the position shown in full lines, Fig. 2, will contact with the obstructing tab strip or selector 4, thus arresting the movement of the arm 8 before its full stroke is completed, and as rocker arm 15 continues its movement for the full stroke, the electric contact 20 will be closed with the contact 19 because of engaging the member 30 on the rocker arm 8, and upon the closing of the circuits at 19 and 20 the clutch magnets will be energized and the operating means for the impression block or pad will be rendered active and an impression will be made from this particular plate. As before stated, the rocker arms 8 and 15 have frictional engagement or connection with each other at their pivot points so that these two arms will move uniformly so long as the arm 8 is not obstructed, but when this arm 8 ismob' structed, as above described, the arm 15 can complete its full movement because the frictional connection will permit this, and therefore the circuits will be closed by the change in relation between these two arms 8 and 15.

The member 30 may have an insulating orv fiber button at its end to engage the contact 20. Now on the reverse stroke of the eccentric 18 and the downward movement of the arm 15 the arm 8, through the frictional connection, above described, will be retracted until it strikes the stop 33. The arm 15, however, is free to continue downward because of the frictional. connection between these two arms, and thus a relative spreading of the arms 8 and 15 will take place to make them assume their normal relative position. From the above it will be seen that all of the feelers are depressed excepting those corresponding to the class or classes it is desired to address. These remaining feelers, which are left up, feel for and detect all plates having the corresponding slot or notch obstructed, and through suitable mechanism control the operation of the impression member.

The address plates may be said to be selective in that they are constructed to be selected for printing according to the adjustment of the tabs therein.

I have described the selective address plate as having the rolled edge and a tab strip for furnishing the obstructive portlons of the plate, as I regard this as the best form of this selective plate, but it will be understood that other forms of plates may be used, the principle involved here being that the plate is of a selective character, being provided with obstructive portions and recesses. The plate is not limited in its use to control the impression mechanism, as above described.

It will be noticed that the tab strip, being held by the rolled margin, is entirely within the limits-of the plate, and being located in this rolled margin, it lies below the surface of the table and within the guide groove, where it is protected, leaving the plate free from projections in respect to its own surface and in respect to the surface of the table, so that the articles to be printed can be fed across the plate and the table without obstruction. The tab so located also enables the detector'mechanism to be arranged below the surface of the table, and as the notches are formed at intermediate points along themargin of the plate, the tabs located at these notches or openings are well protected from displacement. The tab, it will be noticed, lies wholly within the line of the outer edge of the plate extended; that is to say, if a line were drawn across the notches from the edge of one intact portion to the other intact portions, the tab would be loca ted within this line.

I claim as my invention l. A selective address plate having recesses extending clear to the edge of the plate, with means for obstructing any of said recesses to make contact portions, substantially as described.

2. A selective address plate having recesses, with means for obstructing any of said recesses to make contact portions, said contact portions consisting of a strip or strips adjustable on the plate and lying wholly between the planes of the upper and lower faces of the plate, substantially as described.

3. A selective address plate having a recessed rolled edge, and means carried within the rolled edge for obstructing any desired recess to provide contact portions, substantially as described.

4:. A selective address plate having a rolled margin lying in a plane to-0ne side of the plane of the main impression surface of the plate, said rolled margin having recesses, with means carried within the rolled margin to obstruct the desired recess or recesses, substantially as described.

5. An address plate having a rolled margin with a recess formed therein intermediate of its ends and extending clear to the edge thereof, and a member in said recess with its ends held inserted in the rolled margin of the plate and lying wholly within the line of the outer edge of the plate extended, substantially as described.

6. An address plate having a rolled margin with recesses therein, leaving intact portions between said recesses, and a tap strip adjustable through said intact portions from one recess to another, substantially as described.

7. A printing plate having a rolled margin with a portion omitted leaving a space intermediate of the ends of said margin, and a tab located in said space and having portions at its opposite ends fitting in the recesses of the rolled margin on opposite sides of said space.

8. A printing plate having a rolled margin with a portion omitted leaving a space intermediate of the ends of said margin, and a tab located in said space and having portions at its opposite ends fitting in the recesses of the rolled margin on opposite sides of said space, said tab being movable in a direction lengthwise of the said margin while maintaining connection therewith to classify the plate.

9. A printingplate having a rolled margin with a portion omitted leaving a space intermediate of the ends of said margin, and a tab located in said space and having portions at-its opposite ends fitting in the recesses of the rolled margin on opposite sides of said space, said tab being movable in a direction lengthwise of the said margin while maintaining connection therewith to classify the plate, said tab lying within the extended line of the edge of the margin, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ULYSSES G. LEE.

Witnesses:

CORD H. LINK, O. G. PARIS. 

